FZ even refused to license the masters of Bat Chain Puller to Beefheart when he was short of material for Ice Cream for Crow and wanted to use some of the BCP tracks to complete the album.

FZ does come off as a bit of a dick in that story. I'm sure Van Vliet was very let down, but on the upside FZ's rejection led to the great man giving us a few more new tracks.

For a long time they were friends, right? FZ most likely suggested some sounder biz practices along the way, but as you know the Captain signed everything put in front of him and therefor away, maybe including some of FZ's work with him, Didn't Frank do some more production and recording/mix/etcetera of the Captian at different times too? FZ, I'm sure as a biz man, he just wanted his true due. Some of his works were recorded by Frank and he was never reimbursed, so Frank sez no. Maybe that made CB get on with more recordings. I wonder what the trip was there??? Publishing rights for a few song seemed like doodly squat from what I've gathered about the good Captain, but not FZ. I think FZ realized that any one song could be come as popular as Happy Together/You Light Up My Life's schtick at any given time, by any putz, and he also wanted the rights to his work and that of Zappa Records whether on Bizzare or BPR to stay with him and the ZFT. Smart guy ol' FZ.

This album deserves a Deluxe Edition, a whole box set, or something alike. Luckily, the Trout Mask House Sessions were included on the "Grow Fins" box. To have an album like "Decals" out of print for so many years is truly a sin. I hope someone solves that issue in the near future.

The dodged question re Jan etc does have a relevance, though. Which is:-should we have any qualms about (ahem) "illegally" downloading the new version? I have already bought TMR twice so not giving up a bunch of my hard-earned to obtain something sounding like what it should have sounded in the first place would not overly trouble my conscience. I would be more likely to fork over the readies if some of the money goes to Jan, who I care about.

Do you own other Beefheart CDs? Did the labels who issued those CDs all promise you that they were paying Don and Jan?

One thing is certain, that life flies, and also that we never know what happens to the money we pay to get our CDs. It may end in the artist's pockets or maybe being used to lit the cigars of a fat executive (kinda old stereoype, ain't it?). Anyway, I would have liked TMR to have a better re-release, with liner notes from the musicians involved, outtakes (if possible), a real tribute to the great Captain and the AMAZING Magic Band. After all, "two albums Produced by Frank Zappa are registered with the National Preservation Board (Library of Congress). This is one", so it deserved some special treatment. But if the ZFT didn't do that with the FZ 2012 remasters batch, we obviously can't expect it to happen with this non-Zappa album.

Here's my un-scientific comparison of the 1989 Reprise CD and the new Zappa Records Reissue. Overall the improvement in sound is similar to the recently reissued Zappa recordings sourced from the original analog tapes. Sound wise on my own completely subjective scale I'd say it bumped the sound quality from a 5 to a 7. The bass and the drums, and in some cases Don's voice benefit the most from the upgrade. (The reissued Zappa recordings have a lot more instruments in the band so the sonic improvements are spread across a wider soundscape and to my ears more pronounced.)

There's a caveat in the TMR re-issue liner notes about the sources of the masters for this version. Frownland and Hair Pie: Bake 2 were the only two taken from the original Reprise masters (because they weren't available from the Zappa safety copies used for the rest of this reissue.) To my ears those songs don't sound much worse than the rest of the songs on the re-ish, or the originals on the Reprise release.

Now that I've heard it, would I still buy it? I'd say it depends on how much you like the record. I personally first heard TMR on vinyl in 1970 and I didn't get it. Over the years it grew on me, and after I read Beefheart: Through the Eyes of Magic, I heard it in a completely different way. I enjoy it more than ever now, so upgrading was a no brainer for me.

I asked Gail about a Lick My Decals Off, Baby reissue since it was released originally on Straight Records. This is the reply.

"Sorry Chris. Although we do control Trout Mask Replica and the original version of Bat Chain Puller, and several other interesting tracks produced by FZ with he & CB together, we do not own Lick My Decals Off Baby and we never released it."

Herb Cohen must've gained ownership of Decals after his split with FZ. Per Wikipedia there's belief about a clause, although nothing officially stated pertaining to such, that Decals can never be re-released only on CD since it has been reissued on vinyl and iTunes.

Nice reviews by all who have it so far. It's one of my favorite albums of all time, so I'll get it again eventually, just not thru musictoday. Hopefully it's a regular retail release in a few months, or on the merch table for the ZPZ fall tour.

Herb Cohen must've gained ownership of Decals after his split with FZ. Per Wikipedia there's belief about a clause, although nothing officially stated pertaining to such, that Decals can never be re-released only on CD since it has been reissued on vinyl and iTunes.

Herb Cohen must've gained ownership of Decals after his split with FZ. Per Wikipedia there's belief about a clause, although nothing officially stated pertaining to such, that Decals can never be re-released only on CD since it has been reissued on vinyl and iTunes.

I think the same thing has happened with Tim Buckley's records.

[quote="pbuzby"][quote="crh3e"]

True. And to me it's really absurd to understand that we will never have a cd version of Starsailor, the only one that is never been really available...

Can anyone explain to me why the ZFT haven't made this available to regular retail? Been over a year since this was reissued. I have the original CD, would buy it again to hear the "improvement", but not paying $20 on top of musictoday's high fees. It just doesn't make sense at all to keep this CD as a Barfko-Swill only release. Should be available at your Best Buys, FYEs, Amazons, etc.

Best Buy? It was funny seeing Weasels Ripped My Flesh and One Size Fits All there for a few months in among the Katy Perry CDs, but the Zappa stuff all disappeared a short time later. Going to guess someone pulled some strings and then BB pulled them back. I doubt Trout Mask Replica will ever make its way there.

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